Posted by Roger on May 10, 2001 at 15:29:45:
I couldn't resist this thread any longer, and have jumped down from my
lurking tree to comment of the merits of our prejudices. To whit:
Mr. C. Stan has alerted us to a "subaru" owners bbs and so I took a look.
Sure enough, lots of postings. Lots of problems. But look closely folks.
Look for the frequency of the word LOYALE.
Loyales are widely known as being a P.O.C. In other words, yes, even the
Japanese foist junk upon the unsuspecting American consumer.
Any idiot willing to put one of these engines into his Vanagon only wants to
have a more UNreliable and underpowered boat anchor in the back than what he
already has.
As for cost of replacing the timing belt in a Legacy (only one folks)
read the post below which I purloined from said bbs....$600 bucks?

"In Reply to: Question about Timing Belt posted by Shihong Park on May 10,
2001 at 09:33:27:
: Model of my car is 95 Legacy L sedan.
: What if timing belt is cut?
: Have to replace the engine ? or just replace belt?
: I heard it depeneds on the engin structure.
: I hope your answer.

No you dont replace engine. If you dont want to replace it yourself have a
mechanic do it. It should be a relatively cheap repair. The belt only cost
about $30.00 and the mechanic should only spend 2-3 hours replacing it. if
you do it yourself be sure to get a manual though. Well Hope it works for
you. "

But as they say, to each their own.
-sjc
seattle wa
88 Orly Blue Wolfsburg
with 130 hp of smooth Legacy power.

>From: Larry Hamm <ldhamm@XMISSION.COM>
>Reply-To: Larry Hamm <ldhamm@XMISSION.COM>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: what the vw waterboxer offers?? wasRe: 85 Westfalia beeping
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 15:55:46 -0700
>
>Chris Stann wrote:
>
>But, before I go, here's a quote from a
>
> > Subaru-conversion owner:
> >
> > "Subaru engines are OK, but they are afflicted with similar head gasket
> > problems and are expensive to fix. They also have 2 count em 2 timing
>belts
> > that have to be replaced at about 60,000 miles, again not cheap. The
>belts
> > are also known to fail before their time. I know I own a Subaru now with
> > 206,000 miles and the head gaskets went the second time. I also have a
>1990
> > Vanagon GL with 160,000 miles only one head gasket failure so far. NO
> > STINKING TIMING BELTS EITHER."
>
>There is no known head gasket problem with the Legacy engine, as there is
>with
>the wasserboxer. My Legacy engine, which most convertors are using, has
>one,
>count it, ONE belt, cost me $34.95 for a new one. A timing belt is normally
>an
>indication of a more efficient engine. (OHC)
>I'm guessing that your guy is talking about the older engines, which do
>have two
>belts, but I only know of one or two conversions with them. They came out
>in
>'82, and most people want to upgrade to a modern engine when they swap.
>If you want a VW engine in your van, by all means, have one. I've had the
>2.1,
>the diesel, and a 1.8 Jetta, and don't care for any of them, although the
>I4's
>are pretty bulletproof. But don't knock those of us who want dependability,
>power, and low cost.
>Larry
>'82 Syncronized Subaru/Westy

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